IT'S NOT ASSASSINATION WHEN WE DO IT:

NATO's Targeted Attack on Gaddafi's Son (Clive Irving, 5/01/11, Daily Beast)

U.N. resolution 1973, which covers NATO action in Libya, has a particularly flexible mandate: to use "all necessary measures" to protect Libyans. But NATO spokesmen have repeatedly said this resolution does not allow the targeting of Colonel Gaddafi.

In the last two weeks both the CIA and the British SAS have sent in "advisers" whose task was said to be to achieve greater coordination between NATO air forces and the rebels on the ground. This strike in Tripoli is, however, clearly well outside that role.

At the very least, it indicates that Gaddafi's own movements—flitting between "bunkers" and other locations—are being tracked with a precision that indicates a high level of intelligence on the ground. Why else hit his son's house, which is not covered even by that conveniently nebulous definition "command and control"?

International law means whatever we decide it does.

Posted by oj at May 1, 2011 6:18 AM
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